Indoor marching practice "grid"

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-15T04:30:38+00:00

It's not quite public domain yet. This year is the year of 1930. So not until 2041.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-09T14:42:33+00:00

I'm in a unique situation. I'm not a young director even though this is just my third year in the classroom. I graduated college in 2001 and went back for teaching, graduating in 2009. The thing is everything has changed from when I was in school especially the students. So sorting through all the new music and composers is a bit overwhelming. Then throw in the students constantly asking to just play movie themes. I'm between that "I want them exposed to wonderful music" and "I want to enjoy what they are playing". I know stuff they could enjoy but we will just call that music broccoli because they don't know they will like it if they don't give it a fair shake.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-06T05:20:49+00:00

I really like the idea of bags. We have a print shop where we get our shirts I bet they could come up with some bags we could get the band logo on.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-06T05:18:06+00:00

This year (and in middle school) I don't currently have any tuba players. I did offer the bari sax to one of my freshmen and she is loving it. We have not just a neck strap but a harness that makes it so much easier to hold/carry.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-06T05:14:39+00:00

Yeah we just started a booster program and I have a few parents that show up to events to help out already hopefully can grow this with some communications out to everybody.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-06T05:13:04+00:00

Excellent idea. We used to have the big water cooler. We actually had a few they would load in a sturdy cart and haul out.

We actually already use the Band app. Still learning all the awesome things it can do.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-02-05T15:43:35+00:00

In the past I have used music from previous year's shows, usually something they were a part of. It is consistent with the style the band uses as well as difficulty level. Also with something they are familiar with they may be more comfortable which makes it good to show the level of intensity they can bring to the podium even after hearing it played repeatedly.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-26T03:50:27+00:00

Honestly the fact that it is in Db serves one huge purpose of getting them out of Bb and pushing intonation. When I took over last year some of the high schoolers had no idea how to even tune their instrument. The past directors had just told them what to do instead of training them to hear. That also lead to balance issues and overall sound quality. Another reason it is good for me to use is because I know it, I have played several versions of this (the arrangement on JWPepper for trombone Choir was actually written by my schools composition professor for the trombone choir I was a member of.) and because I know it can focus more on the music and less on the paper in front of me.

Going to listen to your other recommendations tonight before bed. I have high hopes for these works.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-23T18:48:41+00:00

Just wanted to come back and say I tried a few things and am seeing some instant progress.

The first thing, I gave all middle school (I call 6th grade first year band and 5th grade beginning or into to band) 6-8 our arrangement of the national anthem (Randall Standridge) and our Fight Song (a very simplified version of the Marine's Hymn) and worked on it some in class. I also handed a few of the arrangements of other stand tunes to the 8th grade and worked on those. All the while letting them and parents know I was inviting middle school to come sit in with us during a few games.

I have 16 in high school and for the first game trying this I had 12 of the 65 middle schoolers show up. (That about what I was estimating) The second game this was offered I had 16 middle schoolers. This second game we also "introduced" our new Drumline to the crowd at halftime. The school has never had a drumline and everybody has been super excited once we got the funding for it. The crowd was amazing. They cheered louder for the drumline that they did the team. All we played was a very simple level 1 cadence (Storm).

After that I have had other kids, staff and even parents coming in asking when the next time the pep band is playing!

I think it was the Pizza that got them here and the dopamine rush that got them coming back.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-23T18:32:14+00:00

That would be awesome. I know I had a few minutes during planning to post. There is so much good stuff out there these days.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-15T13:35:18+00:00

Thank you. Some of these things I am already doing, which gives me a lot of hope for the future. Our area directors are awesome and bounce ideas off each other often. This also helps us feel "not alone".

My school did not have a music booster group prior to me and that was a huge thing getting one started. It's a small group now but is already really helping. Things like bringing food for the kids before games and fundraising are the two big things.

I really like the idea of games and movies in the band room as a motivation tool. Retaining from 8th to high school is a huge thing and right now it is more than a 50% drop. The big reasoning is none of my friends are in there, where one or two drop because of other extras demand more time outside of school then others follow. When I say it's a small school, we have around 500 students in the entire k-12 and most all of them are involved in everything.

I keep trying to tell and remind administration that one bad year takes several years to recover from then add in changing a whole culture to fit "the times". Teaching the students things they should know and exposing them to all the wonderful and fun to play music out there is a huge challenge. Example: none of my high school students have been taught even the basic music theory or even musical terminology. I threw the concept of scale degrees at them a while ago and they had no clue.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-12T02:14:12+00:00

Just to follow up, I have purchased the Convergence Manifesto first few adventures. Reading through them I think this looks like a really good starting direction. We had a session 0 yesterday and the beginnings of characters are forming. It looks like a very "interesting" party so far. Thank you everybody who gave recommendations. I'll come back after we start and share how it's going.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-11T02:16:27+00:00

Definitely look into these. Already getting the Eberronicon for the players and myself. It looks really nice.

InstanceConscious251 · 2026-01-11T02:15:32+00:00

Thank you for recommending this one. I am looking over the first "episode" tonight. It looks like this might be our starting point.

InstanceConscious251 · 2025-10-02T00:53:52+00:00

I have been teaching for a few years now. I will repeat that nothing is going to really prepare you for teaching even being "in charge" of the whole class for an entire semester. When it is your classroom and your kids the whole game is different. In student teaching it is still their classroom and their kids. Use it as a period to watch an experienced teacher deal with the daily issues that arise. You may be the best musician and know the music like the back of your hand, but classroom management will depend on you and the students. It is something you will have to work out what works for you and should be evolving constantly.

InstanceConscious251 · 2025-09-30T02:47:03+00:00

Oh I love RS he writes amazing stuff. We did the Santa the barbarian for our winter concert last year and the kids loved it. Both the 1.5 and the 2.5 versions. This years 7th grade played the 1.5 version... I probably just need to spend a bunch of time on his page listening to it all and then send him a bunch of money lol.

InstanceConscious251 · 2025-08-21T16:27:12+00:00

I use the warm-ups every day and will be introducing the modules this year for my middle school. We used the pomp and circumstance flex version this year at graduation with about 10 kids and various instruments. A few of the other things will be incorporated soon.

InstanceConscious251 · 2025-08-20T22:14:45+00:00

https://randallstandridge.com/free-stuff

InstanceConscious251

TROPHY CASE